The MOJO Weird Record Club #16:
Ali And His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay (St. John’s Fruit and Vegetable Prod. Co., 1976)
What’s this?: Muhammad Ali is joined by friends such as Richie Havens and Frank Sinatra to sing of the horrors of tooth decay. US sports broadcaster Howard Cosell joins to narrate.
MOJO says: “As the record begins, the heavyweight champion of the world comes out fighting with a fabulously plodding version of his Historical Song. Next we bump into Sinatra, hamming it up as the owner of an ice cream store. Then it’s on to a hippy lecture about oral and physical well-being in Richie Haven’s ‘totally organic’ biodynamic garden. It’s an impressive and forward-thinking patter for 1976.”
Where can I get it?: Listen to both sides of the album here.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #15:
Rock And Other Four Letter Words (Columbia, 1968)
What’s this?: Journalists J. Marks and Shipen Lebzelter took recordings of rock stars talking and mixed them together with various psychedelic sounds - among the all-star cast are Brian Wilson, Pete Townshend, Janis Joplin, and Tim Buckley. The album release coincided with the publication of a book of the same name, complete with photos by the soon to be Mrs. McCartney, Linda Eastman. Columbia found the idea promising, but the record sold just a few thousand copies.
MOJO says: “Take the opener, a number based on girls singing and screeching only in four letter words, followed by heavy freak-out guitar, then all of a sudden Brian Wilson starts talking about blowing his mind, and Pete Townshend drops in a line about people just pretending to enjoy music-music-music. And so it goes on, all apparently in a strange homage to Stockhausen, who, according to the journalists, ‘destroyed our ears so we could hear.’ There’s only one way to sum up this album – it’s as mad as f**k.”
Where can I get it?: Original vinyl copies occasionally appear on auction sites, but you can hear the whole album over at WFMU.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #14:
The Dream World Of Dion McGregor (Decca, 1964)
Who?: By day, Dion McGregor was a songwriter, penning Where Is The Wonder for Barbra Streisand’s 1965 big-selling album My Name Is Barbra. By night, he was a confirmed somniloquist, speaking loudly and freely in his sleep.
MOJO says: “His frazzled roommate, Mike Barr, would wake at 7am, start the tape machine and then go back to bed. The mornings were when Dion’s dream world would really come to life. Word of these unusual bedroom recordings spread throughout underground New York and were pooled as the basis of an album to released on Decca in 1964. Producer Jules Green selected just 10 recordings, often excluding tracks due to their risqué subject matter.”
Where can I get it?: Original vinyl copies occasionally appear on auction sites.
Listen to the opening track, Val, above.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #13
Ruth White’s Flowers Of Evil (Limelight, 1969)
What’s this? Ruth White is an unsung hero of electronic music. In 1969 she blended her otherworldly sounds with readings of Charles Baudelaire’s poetry.
MOJO says: “Imagine busy fork-lifts in a factory, a pet shop on fire and the ear-splitting shrieks of a train on a bad track and you’re getting close to the noises she electronically generated. But in amongst this musical pandemonium there is real beauty. Ruth somehow conveys a real sense of tragedy, longing and an overwhelming sound of synthesized sadness.”
Where can I get it? Original vinyl copies occasionally appear on auction sites.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #12:
Music From Mathematics (Produced By Bell Telephone Laboratories)
What’s this?: Post-World War II, Bell Telephone was an unusual company. Bell had done a lot of wartime radar work, and their white-coated scientists were soon playing about with computer bleeps, audio patterns and “digitised sound”.
MOJO says: “Put the record on and immediately you are transported to a naïve but scientific 1959, where much of the brand new computer music sounds a bit broken. Side one is played music - that’s music composed by a mathematician in a white coat, programmed using little hole-punched cards, and then spat out musically by a big room called the IBM 7090. Side two is when the computers compose their own numbers and even have a little programmed chat about it at the end.”
Where can I get it?: Original vinyl copies occassionally appear on auction sites.
Read the liner notes here.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #10:
Jim Fassett - Strange To Your Ears (1955, Columbia Masterworks)
Who?: Fassett worked at CBS and had been obsessed with a new thing called a ‘tape recorder’ since the mid-1940s. At CBS Radio there happened to be three tape machines, allowing Fassett, along with tape engineer Morty Goldberg, to record and corrupt sounds with three times the enthusiasm.
MOJO says: “Strange To Your Ears may well be over 50 years old and the ideas of tape manipulation well worn, but the unique alchemy of sounds, tape wizardry and narration still makes an impact. Unlike more highbrow composers like Stockhausen or Schaeffer, Fassett breaks down exactly what he’s doing into simple, well explained and almost whimsical demonstrations which immediately engage anyone within earshot”.
Where can I get it?: Strange To Your Ears is available to download.
Listen to the album below:
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #9:
Santa Claus Is A Black Man (Simtone, 1973)
What’s this?: Made for Simtone in 1973 in New York and credited to Akim and The Teddy Vann Production. Akim is about six years old, and sings with all the gusto of a Sesame Street kid. Adding to this formidable, highly pitched voice are the specially created songs and stories, all penned by talented soul man Teddy Vann.
MOJO says: “The introduction to Santa Claus Is A Black Man is a stunning piece of descriptive funk and jive. Musical proceedings continue with crisp wintery wah-wah and soulful jingle bells. There’s even a psychedelic gospel God Rest You Merry Gentleman.”
Hear the title track below:
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #8:
John Peel’s BBC Archive Things (BBC, 1970)
What’s this?: This record came about as a result of John Peel’s post-Perfumed Garden show on a fledgling BBC Radio One simply called Night Ride. Beamed out every Wednesday between midnight and 1am, the show’s musical policy was “whatever fits”. An average broadcast might include avant-pop, spoken word, harsh modern classical compositions and some electronics. It was decided to put the audience favourites onto BBC vinyl. Most of the artists were unknown.
MOJO says: “This challenging LP was a milestone in broadcasting and a wild, free-form approach to playlisting and compiling. With dark children’s nursery rhymes, Wellington boot dances performed by Zulus in South Africa and a unusual Austrian chap who imitates a brass band among the tracks, it showcases Peel’s eclectic taste and has to be one of the strangest listens you could ever wish to endure.”
Where can I get it?: Vinyl copies occasionally appear via auction sites.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #7:
Mother Earth’s Plantasia (Homewood, 1976)
Who?: Meet Mort Garson. A multi-talented writer, producer, pianist and all-round musical ideas man, he cut teeth at the Julliard, then spent the early ’60s growing into his big musical boots with production jobs for Mel Tormé, Doris Day and Glen Campbell. He also co-wrote the perennial hit Our Day Will Come.
MOJO says: “Plantasia offers the keen indoor and outdoor gardener help and success through cunningly composed earth music. Mort’s warm Moogy sounds are designed to benefit both the plant and the plant owner. Put the album on, sit back, read the free booklet (about plants) and allow the simple sonic osmosis to take place.”
Where can I get it?: Vinyl copies occasionally appear via online retailers.
Hear album track Mellow Mood For Maiden Hair below:
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
The MOJO Weird Record Club #6:
The Addicts Sing (Word, 1963)
Who?: The Addicts rose up from the hard streets of the Bronx in around 1963. They came from mental institutions, prisons, safe houses and rehab camps. The group was the brainchild of reformed heroin addict John Gimenez. Together, as a unit of nine drug-free men, they would bring their true-life dramas and experiences to people everywhere.
MOJO says: “Like a sort of religious drug caberet on tour… it’s true that few of the nine Addicts can sing, but rarely will you have heard such boundless conviction in song. There’s almost a cheerful doo-wop edge to a couple of the numbers, and their worthy rendition of the standard I Believe has an unnerving, frightening quality that’s difficult to pin down”.
Where can I get it?: Original vinyl copies sometimes appear on auction sites.
Hear You Are The Finger Of God below:
Check out the back cover and another track from the album here.
The MOJO Weird Record Club appears every month in MOJO magazine and is curated and written by Jonny Trunk.
